Leominster wins thriller, reaches district title game

Leominster catcher Nick Cordio tags out St. John s Matt LeClair in the eighth inning of Wednesday s Central Mass. Division 1 semifinal game at Tivnan Field in Worcester. Leominster scored two runs in the ninth to win, 2-0, and advance to Saturday s championship. (SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / JOHN LOVE)

WORCESTER -- Emile Johnson's baseball retirement party has been canceled once again.

The 43-year Leominster High baseball coach is having too much fun with his never-say-die Blue Devils to call it a career just yet.

Johnson's old-school recipe for success -- get great pitching, play solid defense and execute the small-ball game on offense -- proved to be the winning formula once again as No. 7 Leominster upset No. 3 St. John's of Shrewsbury, 2-0, Wednesday night in a Central Mass. Division 1 semifinal at Tivnan Field.

"Custer will live for another day," said Johnson, his famous quote to use during this playoff run which has featured victories over St. Peter-Marian, Shepherd Hill and St. John's. "I'm just happy for the guys, I really am. What happens here, it's just a great ride right now. Up until now, it's just been a great ride. It feels great."

And it's a ride the Leominster players don't want to see end anytime soon. They want to send their fiery leader out with a championship.

"It's the greatest thing in the world," said Leominster center fielder Brett Corliss, flashing the leather late in the game to save the Blue Devils' season. "To have coach Johnson say it's going to be his last year, we want to go as far as we can to keep him there. We want to pretty much win it all so he can go out with a bang."

One of the premier aces in Central Mass., Neil O'Connor, was up to his old tricks again by delivering his second straight complete-game shutout in the playoffs.

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O'Connor, a hard-throwing righty with a knee-buckling deuce, went all nine innings, allowing five hits and one walk while fanning eight. He threw 110 pitches to propel Leominster (16-7) into Saturday's 7 p.m. final against top-seeded Nashoba Regional.

"What can you say about the little guy on the mound?" Johnson said. "He's got a big heart. It hurt us when he was out for 26 days, but he's certainly come back strong."

Leominster last appeared in the Division 1 final in 2008, losing to St. Peter-Marian, 10-8.

Leominster had been eliminated by the Pioneers (18-6) in the semifinals, 3-0 and 4-3, in each of the past two years. But the third time was the charm for Johnson and his emotionally charged Blue Devils.

"We haven't been there in a while, so it feels great to get there, especially in coach Johnson's last year," said Leominster senior catcher Nick Cordio. "Hopefully we can get it done for him.

"We knew coach Johnson wanted to beat St. John's because he hadn't in a long time. It's just great to finally get past them."

With O'Connor and St. John's southpaw Steve D'agostino dealing goose eggs for eight straight innings, Johnson knew if he got a runner on he could go to his small-ball game.

That opportunity presented itself in the ninth, when Tyler Vaillette led off the frame with a line-drive single to center.

Vinh Doan laid down a clutch two-strike sacrifice bunt and Nick Bergeron followed with a hit-by-pitch. Jay Valera fell behind in the count, but worked a free pass, loading the bases for No. 8 hitter Cordio.

"We have to get a man on third base with less than two outs and we can do some business," said Johnson, the small-ball master.

And Cordio was ready to execute Johnson's game plan.

"The squeeze is coach Johnson's bread and butter," Cordio said. "He's always done it. I had a feeling he was going to call a squeeze and he did. He said second-pitch squeeze, so that's what I did."

After a strike from D'agostino, Cordio put a perfect suicide squeeze down the first-base line that plated Vaillette and turned into an RBI single for the hustling catcher.

The wily veteran Johnson wasn't done bunting, however. He summoned Ryan Lever to drop down a first-pitch squeeze, and the sophomore shortstop executed to score Bergeron for the 2-0 lead.

"We got the opportunity to play a little small ball and they certainly came through the way I'd like to see them," Johnson said.

O'Connor, staking to a two-run lead in the ninth, delivered the goods, retiring three straight hitters to seal the emotional victory.

In the bottom of the eighth, St. John's had its chance to break through on the scoreboard. Micah Cummins led off with a bloop single to left. The Pioneers went to their bunting game, as Cam Murphy sacrificed to O'Connor, who threw to first baseman Roland LaPointe for the out. Matt LeClair -- pinch-running for Cummins -- touched second and put his head down for third on the play, and LaPointe fired a dart to shortstop Lever, who was covering third base. The ball got there in plenty of time to beat the runner, but the home plate umpire called him safe at third.

"I saw the ball beat him there," O'Connor said. "From where I was, it looked like he was out."

Johnson added: "I've been around a long time and when the ball and the glove is on the ground and the runner slides, it's automatic (out)."

Johnson went out to argue the call to no avail. Even O'Connor -- a reserved athlete -- got heated with the call and Johnson had to eventually call time out to settle his ace down.

After walking leadoff hitter Tom Petry, who also stole second to put runners at second and third, O'Connor got a groundball with the infield in. Lever gobbled up Mike Sullivan's bouncer at short and calmly threw a strike to Cordio at the plate to nab LeClair for the second out.

O'Connor got even more help from his trusted teammates, as Scott Manea lofted a shallow fly to center in between Corliss and second baseman Doan. Corliss -- a speed burner -- turned on the jets and made a sensational diving grab, coming in to rob Manea of the potential game-winning hit.

"I was just hustling all the way in," Corliss said. "I looked at our second baseman Vinh Doan and he looked at me and I went, 'I've got to get it.' Right when I dove and I was looking down, I knew I had to catch it. I saw the ball in my glove, and with the bad game I was having, it was just great.

"Even though my bat wasn't there today, it felt great to make a defensive play to spark the win."

The Blue Devils went wild after Corliss' run-saving snag and followed it up by manufacturing two runs in the top of the ninth for the victory.

O'Connor worked out of another dicey situation in the second as the Pioneers got two runners on with no outs. But the LHS ace got a infield flyout, a strikeout and a groundout to escape.

"He always stepped up and he always comes to play," Cordio said "Neil's a phenomenal pitcher. In pressure situations he always gets it done, he always has."

D'agostino pitched well enough to win for St. John's. The junior lefty went the distance, allowing two runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Vaillette led Leominster's offense with two hits out of the cleanup spot.

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